FROM THE EDITOR

The criticism of individual awards has been that they detract from the collective nature of football as a team game

Congratulations to Luka Modric, World Soccer’s World Player of the Year for 2018. And not forgetting Didier Deschamps and France, 2018 World Manager and World Team of the Year.

The various international player awards have chopped, changed and re-launched in recent times, but our awards are the oldest and longest-running of their kind.

The criticism of individual awards has been that they detract from the collective nature of football as a team game. But Modric was the brilliant orchestrator of Croatia at the World Cup in Russia – an outstanding individual in a team whose performances exceeded all expectations.

It was perhaps a surprise that Lionel Messi, a four-times winner, finished no higher than fourth this year despite some outstanding performances for Barcelona this autumn.

But in a World Cup year, performances at the summer tournament have to be the most important factor in any decision. And while Modric was a worthy winner of the World Player award, Didier Deschamps and France were clear and deserving winners of the Manager and Team awards.

See you in 2019!